« Tourism is a heavy investment sector that requires full government involvement for its development. » This statement is from the organization Agency for the Promotion and Valorization of Tourism (APROVATOUR).
For the Coordinator of the APROVATOUR agency, the Assistant Bernadette Atosha Byemba, the Public-Private partnership is an asset for the promotion of tourism by working together, but also granting certain facilities in taxation as well as subsidies especially in this period when .the tourism industry is in full reinvention.It also offers the encouragement of entrepreneurship in this sector by organizing national competitions but also to support women, young people (girls and boys) as in other sectors.
The boss of the Aprovatour agency believes that the DRC visa is a difficulty encountered in this sector. She indicates that the visa is a headache that blocks the accessibility of visitors to DR Congo.
« The facilitation for obtaining visas online or on arrival would be a great asset for tourists. It is inadmissible that the DRC with all the riches is not ranked on the Top 10 destinations in Africa,” she suggests.
Ms. Bernadette Atosha believes that the regulation of standards in the sector, especially at borders and at Congolese airports, would reduce the hassle suffered by visitors arriving and departing in the DR Congo.
“Finding our own brand image to sell our country, example: The perl of Africa Uganda, Hakuna Matata Kenya, and many other countries,” she says.
« Insecurity is not a problem, but the problem is how we sell the image of our country, » says Atosha.
« What are the programs organized even on national and local channels talking about tourism, in how many countries where our wealth is on the front page, the digitization of the tourism sector would help for its sustainable development, also use of influential men in the outside world.To talk about tourism in the DRC like the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Denis Mukwege, « she calls out.
Our source adds that the retraining and training of staff in the tourism sector and the commitment of young professionals leaving aside membership in political parties.
For him, domestic tourism must find its place in the DRC through awareness campaigns and by reviewing the price of visits for locals/nationals in the various tourist sites.
“Develop and service the tourist sites of the country; Organize national days of ecotourism, Congolese cultures (Congolese cuisine, music, dense forklorique, etc.) to diversify the country’s tourist offer », she concludes.
APPROVATOUR
